Key quotes: Jose reacts to Anfield loss

Jose Mourinho lamented the luck enjoyed by Liverpool for their second and third goals as he reflected on a disappointing afternoon at Anfield for Manchester United.

Sadio Mane had put the hosts ahead on 24 minutes, but a mistake from Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker allowed Jesse Lingard to equalise soon after. However, further strikes followed for Jurgen Klopp’s men after the break, with substitute Xherdan Shaqiri netting two deflected efforts to seal the hosts' 3-1 victory.

Jose spoke to MUTV, Sky Sports and reporters at his post-match press conference after the game and had this to say…

WE BELIEVED WE COULD WIN“They had a strong team and showed they are the strongest team. It’s hard to concede two goals in the moments we conceded and even harder the way the goals happened [with the deflections]. I think our difficult period in the game was the first 20 minutes when we couldn’t cope with their fantastic intensity and speed and pressing. After that we were quite calm in the game and the game was controlled. We can say of course they attacked much more than us, they had corners, they had more play in our half than we had in their half, but it was exactly the moment when the game was going into the dynamic when they were really frustrated. You had centre-backs coming with the ball and shooting from 30 yards into the stands – that was a period when the game was more under control and we felt that we could win, even a little bit undeservedly, but it was the moment when sometimes teams that are dominating a game can lose matches. But that was when we conceded two goals. David [De Gea] was saying in the dressing room afterwards that they [Shaqiri's shots] would have been two easy balls for him, but because of the deflections he had no chance.”

LUCK FAVOURED LIVERPOOL“If you want to speak about fortune, then speak about their second and third goals. Our goal was a good move by the side, I think [Romelu] Lukaku got in the space behind the full-back with a good cross and then Jesse [Lingard] arrived in a dangerous position and the goalkeeper made, what I used to call, half of a mistake. To speak about luck and goals we have to speak about the second and third goals.”

TOP FOUR STILL ACHIEVABLE“We can still finish fourth. It’s not easy, but for sure we are going to finish in the top six like all the other historically top teams but the best we can get is the fourth position. Right now we need to look to fifth and probably later we can look to the fourth.”

PLAYERS ARE GIVING EVERYTHING“A football player has to give the maximum every day, every match, every minute, it doesn’t matter who the manager is or anything. It’s the club that pays him and the fans that are in love with their club 24 hours a day… it’s about [showing] respect for the club and respect for the fans. If the players don’t do the maximum then you call them dishonest, but I don’t call them dishonest at all. The players that were on the pitch today gave everything. Liverpool are a better team, we cannot compare their intensity and their physicality and based on that intensity and physicality then the technical qualities go up and they are a better team than us. But in spite of that we were in the game until we conceded the second and third goals, which came, I repeat, in a moment where the result was most probably a draw.”

INJURIES HAVEN'T HELPED US BUT ARE NO EXCUSE“In these circumstances, [Matteo] Darmian trained for one day to play, [Diogo] Dalot trained one day to play, [Victor] Lindelof trained one day to play, [Anthony] Martial trained one day to play. All week, we didn't know who was going to play. All week we didn't know who was available and not available. In the last minute, even [Chris] Smalling was not ready to play. But the Smalling one is not an excuse at all because I think [Eric] Bailly played very, very well. I think it was a distraction, but Eric coped very, very well with it. He had a great focus and a great concentration. It was not at all because of that emergency change why we lost the game.”

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